we've told you the president's plan to cut u.s. debt doesn't add up. well today, more gave a speech to talk about the debt. we investigated his plan. does it add up? plus, battleground ohio. it's the state that could decide our next president. and new details on something that could mess it all up. the track and power of sandy, a storm on a collision course for the northeast. it could knock out power for hundreds of thousands and possibly affect the balance of power in the election. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, not so fast, mitt. romney recognizes the great threat posed by america's $16 trillion debt, but what is he going to do about it? today, he made a big economic policy speech and was quick to

note how devastating america's debt problem is. >> our national debt in liabilities threatened to crush our feature. our economy struggles under the weight of government and fails to create the essential growth and employment that we need. >> now, during monday's debate, he noted the immediate danger of debt, too. >> admiral mullen said that our debt is the biggest national security threat we face. >> but what would president mitt romney do to slash the debt? well, given everything we know now, his plan doesn't add up. we know three big things about romney's plan. one. he wants to cut tax rates and pay for it by closing loopholes. two. he wants to increase defense spending by about $2 trillion over ten years. and three, he says he'll balance the budget at the end of his second term. let's start with the tax cuts. >> i want to bring down rates. want to bring the rates down, at the same time, lower deductions and credits so we keep getting the revenue we need.

>> romney's across the board tax cut of 20% is $5 trillion worth. now, romney plans to close loophole to pay for it. we just don't know which wups, so we had to take some liberties on the map here. the joint committee on taxation did one test study and i have it right here. keep in mind, this was done based on current law, which assumes the bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year. they concluded that revenue neutral tax reform would permit a 4% decrease in all ordinary income tax rates. now, that's not close to 20%. now, let's get to the second thing. adding more than $2 trillion to defense spending. according to analysis conducted money, romney will add $2.1 trillion in defense spending over a decade. now, as "the washington post" recently noted, they think romney's plan is better for the

nation's defense needs, but he still hasn't said how he'll pay for it. let's give everyone here the map. we have $5 trillion in tax cuts, plus $2 trillion. now, if romney can make that $5 trillion tax cut revenue neutral, he's still spending at least 2 trillion. again, our debt, which is growing every minute, is about $16 trillion right now. so, romney has to find some massive cuts to pay for his promises before he can tackle our nation's greatest security threat. now, to be fair, he has some ideas for cuts. on his campaign website, he lists repeal obama care savings. $95 billion. reduce subsidies for the national endowments for the arts and humanities, that's big bird and the legal services corporations, savings, $600 billion.

and empower states to innovate savings. about $100 billion. now, the list goes on, but it doesn't add up because again, romney doesn't even say he will balance the budget -- the bottom line is this. the two men running for the president of the united states don't seem to have plan to deal with the national security threat. we did the math yesterday showing -- a former republican senator from missouri and senator, really appreciate you taking the the time. we don't have the full details, we did for president obama. but given that the deficit is the top issue for so many in this country, how are they supposed to feel about the fact this candidate says hees not going to balance the budget until the end of the second term. >> our tax reform plan has been validated by harvey rosen out of princeton. even the president's current head of the council economic adviser said in 1986 -- a lot of additional jobs, so if you you

add up the growth, we think $7 million worth of jobs, plus what we can save by reforming the tax code, it's fully possible. now, you mentioned defense spending. we're going to ramp it up, but do it at the same time the spending on overseas operations is going down. he wants to capture what he spent on afghanistan to help the military rest and reconstitute after ten years of welfare. >> it seems unfair when you all do it, too, those wars are already slated to end and they were paid for with borrowed money. when that isn't being spent, it's not saved for you too to do something else with. >> spending on defense, okay, the top line, if you're including those top line overseas expend we're going to

be spending less and ramp up to that as we get economic growth. >> but you're spending more things on ships and all of that, right? you're just not spending on the wars. >> sure, exactly. after ten years of fighting, the military has to be what they call reset. they've used up a lot of this equipment. >> what about though, you would take health care that you say you're going to repeal obama care. by july this year, the house had voted 32 times to repeal obama care, but the senate was democratic. it's most lickly to be democratic no matter who the president is next time around. some of these savings may not happen. >> well, we have to get some bipartisan cooperation and i think should the democrats control the senate or if they don't, what governor romney will do is what he did in massachusetts. say what's your plan, which is reasonable, and say put your plan on the table. pass a budget for the first time in three years and then we'll

sit down and you know, we'll negotiate. >> i wanted to ask you about something today in the "washington post." the nation's top bond investor. he said america needs to cut $1.6 trillion a year. four times the so-called grand bargain. i spoke to him about it today. i said bill, is ha really what you meant? he said romney's plan is a plan to reduce the deficit from some undisclosed plan of tax reform. i believe under both candidates, we will see trillion dollar deficits. either by the sale of treasuries from reserve country nations and or a decline in the dollar, which could lead to further rating service downgrades as well as higher interest rates. that is a pretty frightening and damming indictment of both plans. >> i remember in the 1990s and now the deficit was not as big then. that's true. but it was big and i remember people saying, asking me, i was in the house at the time.

well, can you balance the budget without or while you're cutting taxes? our tax rates. i said i don't think we can balance the budget without cutting tax rates because that's how you get the economy moving. you've got to have growth. i think it's doable. we are going to need cooperation, but i'm hopeful that after the election, maybe they'll sit down and we can talk. >> mitt romney's saying he's going to balance the budget by the end of the second term. that means running deficits for the next eight years. only thing i've seen on his website is $500 billion in cuts in the year 2016. that's not dealing with the debt for another four years. >> if we can move faster and further, we certainly will, but governor romney wanted to propose something he thought we could do. >> he's going to close loopholes to do it. you and i are both familiar are w the studies that say that's not possible or tough to do. let's just say in order to get

there, he can't cut by to 20%. he has to cut by 10. maybe 4. would he adjust that promise? >> well, he's certainly willing to talk. when you do tax reform, what you do is you establish the basic parameters, which he's done in this proposal. you get everybody together and you knock heads. if it's not what everybody wants, is he going to say absolutely no? he's not going to raise taxes, but if he can't get exactly the tax cut hemts, is he going to say no. there are some things he's going to insist on, but be open to talking as well. >> thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us tonight. >> thank you. next, a brand new poll from the state that could decide this election. is president obama losing his lead in oh or not? plus, the politics of demographics and race. and we're tracking a super storm that could wallop the

northeast. the forecast for this thing really is frankenstorm. it could influence voting in a few key states. chad myers with the latest.

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obama's ohio fire wall. cnn is out with a new poll in the state tonight with the the president leading mitt romney 50-46 and that's unchange frd the last cnn poll in ohio taken just avenue the first debate. john king has been looking at the latest numbers. what else does it tell you? >> it's important to look at this poll. thest a small lead.

that's yet another poll the president's kept that narrow lead in ohio. you mentioned the horse race. here's one of the biggest factors. in a battleground state like this, the president's getting the democrats, romney's getting a republicans, the candidate who wins among independents is likely to win. that is critical the watch in the last week to election day. there's also an age divide. it's important as well. you see a huge leap for the president. 56-38, among voters under 50. that's an important part of his constituency. republicans need the older voters by 2i-46. governor romney would like that to be bigger. there's also a racial and gender gap, if you will. i want to put it this way. the president is, if he is above 40% in the white vote, he tends to win a state because of the demographics like ohio. you see them here, 41% of white men, 46% of white women. if the president can hold those numbers, it's most likely he

would hang on to ohio. >> from all the math i've seen out there, it's incredibly difficult for mitt romney to get to the white house without ohio. what is his game plan if he doesn't win the buckeye state? >> you know the history. no republican has ever won the the white house without winning the state of ohio. if we start here, the president at 237, if the president were to take ohio, we'll turn that blue, that puts him on the doorstep. the president could get over the top by winning wisconsin. let's focus on governor romney. could he make history? he would have to win florida. virginia. he would have to win colorado. that would, just let me move that into the red column. then it gets hard from there. they say that he's in strong play in nevada, obama campaign disputes that. if he could win those two out west, that would put him in

position. even if he won new hampshire, that's only four. somehow, even though he was losing the most republican of the midwestern states, ohio, he would have to also win one of wisconsin and or iowa. so it's not impossible, but if he loses the big one, he's got to almost run the board with the rest of it. >> wow. wisconsin and iowa. how are those just poll wise leaning? is that reasonable for romney or no? >> wisconsin again has had a steady, democratic lead. it's within reach. it's not out of play yet, but let's sign that one over to the president. iowa, it's interesting. you could have a small state, only six electoral votes. most polling shows the president with a slight lead. if it stays this close, the little ones like iowa and new hampshire could decide things on election night. >> thanks so much to john king. >> thank you.

if obama does win ohio and the election, he may owe it to a move he made at the very beginning of his presidency. the auto bailout. one in eight jobs in ohio can belinged to the auto industry, so voters may be inclined to pay him back with a second term. perfect pairing here tonight. i'm thrilled to have you both. john, dead heat nationally for the race. the president has maintained his lead in ohio as john king just characterized. how much of that is due to the auto bailout? >> i think a lot. that piece that he wrote let detroit go bankrupt back in 2008. i think it's dogged him all along. he won ohio just narrowly over rick santorum. won his home state in the primaries, so he's been weak out there particularly in auto country from the beginning and i think it's showing up now the general election as well.

>> let's get straight to that. it was titled "let detroit go bankrupt." they argue about it in the debate. let me play the back and forth first. here it is. >> they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden they've built up. you can take a look -- gl governor romney -- >> you can take a look at the op-ed. i said that we would provide guarantees and that was what was able to allow these companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy. under no circumstances would i do anything other than help this industry get on its feet and the idea that has been suggested that i would liquidate the industry. of course not. that's the height of silliness. >> governor -- >> all right, obviously, contentious moment. mitt romney did not write that

headline, but the next day, 4-year-old op-ed was the most read article on "the new york times" website. a lot of people did check the record. >> i think they came to realize that mitt romney was 100% accurate in describing his position. he called for a managed bankruptcy, then said government had a role to step in and make the difference after they cut through it. he did not say to ban abandon the automobile industry. he was looking if r a managed process and that's kind of what happened. actually, they had a negotiation to change. they went from, there was an old gm and a new gm, so they went through kind of a managed bankruptcy after all the bailout work was done. >> then ford did it all on their own. >> wait, this is not true. that is not true. ford had the timing on their side. they went and renegotiated their debt before the 2008 crisis hit. they happened to have an

advantage of going to wall street to renegotiate their borrowing authority and it was the calendar. >> the ceo of ford said about mitt romney's prescription. he said if gm and chrysler had gone into a free fall bankruptcy, they would have taken the entire supply chain and auto agency with it. he said that in 2010. so that's really what -- >> speculation is not accurate. >> it is because there was no way that private capital were going to keep those companies alive into a chapter 11 reorganization. they would have gone into liquidation. we would have lost not only those two companies, but the supply chain. >> what he said, these are his words, the american auto industry is vital to our national interest as employer and hub for manufacturing, a managed bankruptcy may be the only path the industry needs. ultimately, isn't that what happened? a managed bankruptcy by the u.s.

government. >> a lot of help by the u.s. government and they would have never gotten there. the group working on this, went to his old company and said would you put some money in this in front of the bankruptcy. they said no. i think the u.s. had to step in at that paint and the taxpayers are going to get all or most of their money back as a result. >> i don't know about gm. >> we still own a piece of gm. >> very optimistic. all right. but i know that's a separate issue. andy, what do you think about john's point? mitt romney had had his way, it still would have failed for the industry and that's perhaps what voters are reacting to. >> the good news is that issue is as relevant today as -- because the economy isn't just under water because of what

happened in the automobile industry. it's because of what hasn't happened in leadership from the white house. i think it could have been a lot worse if we didn't have a process that allowed for a managed change in the auto industry, but we have not turned this economy around and president romney will change it because he knows what to do and president obama didn't have the chance to do it. >> i want to stay on this issue of the auto bailout. the headline mitt romney proposed for that op-ed that you see below us, it's been below us now for several minutes. he had suggested the way forward for the auto industry. should he have tried to correct president obama and say i didn't ask? would that have helped him if he was more aggressive in saying i never said that and here's the proof? >> i thought mitt romney did what he had to do in the debate. he looked presidential. didn't sound petty. he wasn't interrupting in a rude way, so i thought he did well in

the debate. he demonstrated that he had the the meddle to be president of the united states. and he also knows how to negotiate and to bring something to reality. president obama has not been a good negotiator. he has not been able to even get the democrats in congress on his side on a lot of these issues and a president romney knows how to work the political process so that government can actually work. >> i think governor granholm had it right when detroit was on its knees, mitt romney stabbed them in the back. i think people remember that and that's why he's underperforming in ohio and his own state of michigan, where his father was the governor. >> thanks to both of you. i would love to talk to you about whether gm and how you laugh and enjoy the conversation. our third story, demographics and the politics of race. in 2008, the president did very well with white voters and that support seems to have waned. "outfront" tonight, john avalon, who's traveling the key battleground states. it's been a long week. he's in winston salem, north

carolina. he won north carolina four years ago by 14,000 votes. he wants to try to win again. can it happen? >> well, it can happen, but the trend has not been his friend in recent polls. president obama was the first democrat to win north carolina since 1986 and it did make a big bet on it in this cycle and also betting big on demographic trends in the state. for example, the state's grown 18% in urban areas. that would benefit democrats. and young professionals moving into the state, but the key question is whether their strategy might be more appropriate for 2016 or 2020 than where the electorate is today in 2012. another factor in north carolina is is the economy. it has the fourth highest

unemployment rate in the nation. some polls show the state tightening, but generally, it's been moving more towards romney than the obama camp would have hoped. >> what about on the race front, we look at the white and non white vote split. what do you see? >> you see the president per foming significantly underneath that 40% margin that john king took. this is difficult to talk about because you don't like seeing our politics polarized by race. democrats have had a deficit with white voters for more than 30 years. now, president obama made up a lot of that ground in 2008 and democrats have made up for it by having a significant edge, but this combination of a tough economy means that the president's having a hard time getting his white support above 40%. that is a real issue. in the long run, democrats have made a smart bet on diversity. republicans can't hope for a large share of the white vote to

bring them over the top, but this is an issue in this collection and with the tough economy, huge implications that both campaigns are going to be paying a lot of attention to. >> thanks very much. race does matter in this election and up next, the track of a super storm headed for millions on the east coast and millions of voters. and breaking news on the meningitis outbreak which has killed 25 people. on whether the company responsible ignored its own safety measures an knew there was something wrong with that shot. ♪ ♪

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our fourth story, a super storm headed for the northeast. hurricane sandy has lost some strength, but forecasters warn that it is extremely powerful. it's left more than 20 dead across the caribbean. now, states florida to massachusetts are bracing for wind sh rain and widespread power outages. chad myers is tracking sandy. this weather system is massive. tell us how big it is, how wide the impact could be. >> it will be all way from maine to north carolina. every state in that area will get some type of damage.

the storm now just leaving the bahamas and it will be making its way up to the northeast. we don't know where it's going to go yet. the the models are from rhode island to about washington, d.c., but i will guarantee you this, every place in this circle will have some type of damage. whether it's wind, trees knocked down, powerlines knocked down coastal erosion or flooding. one of our vendors, wtt, said this may be in some spots, a 1,000 year flood. kind of like what we had in vermont from irene last year. we don't want that. >> you are talking about a storm doing all of this at category 1 possibly. could it get bigger? probably doesn't get bigger. could be a small category 2. the issue is not so much it's a category 1 because it spins around and stays for a long time.

there's a big high pressure ridge to the west of it. you have high pressure on one side and even a small low pressure on the other, you get a lot of wind, but we have a big low pressure and a big high pressure, so wind away from this storm. 200 miles away from the center of sandy. could have winds of 80 to 90 miles an hour. that's tremendous. that's a widespread swath of damage. >> and do you think it could affect early voting? from what you're describing, yes, right? >> i don't see how it doesn't affect early voting. we are going to have hundreds of thousands if not millions of people without power. can't get all those powerlines back up at once. it may take until wednesday or thursday to get that power back up. we're going to have coastal erosion. a million trees down from all this wind and it's widespread. maine, vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts. even if you don't get the center of the storm, the eye, you're still going to get damage. >> thank you very much. a pretty frightening scenario and talk about the effect on early voting, the storm is also

reeking havoc on the campaign trial. romney and biden have canceled events on the east coast. the storm is also threatening to derail early voters. this couldn't come at a worse time. both candidates are trying to make a push. the president was going to be making a big and intense push. >> it affects both and really gain this thing out. imagine, remember, early voting is one thing, but what do you do if you have significant damage? i think it helps the president more. he's the sitting president. he gets to be presidential. he might have to tour these areas. declare emergencies as well. but it's going to be hard for each campaign to actually

justify in north carolina, in new hampshire, in let's say virginia, running ads attacking each other while americans are suffering due to this storm. they're going to have a tough call to make. >> the president, you know he is the sitting president. he's going to have to tour. if there are disaster areas and people who are -- not only does it give him that moment, mitt romney can do that, too. but it does give that moment to the president. what about all these nasty ads they're running? >> i think t a part of the spirited campaign. i think those ads are designed to draw a contrast and that's fair enough, but i think it's true that it's all about the net effect because again, both campaigns are having to cancel events, right? so it's really important to see and the key thing is virginia. that's a swing state. but these other state, they're not. new hampshire's a swing state. it's not clear how it's going to

impact new hampshire. >> virginia, the way you see john king lay out these maps, if virginia were to feel sympathetic to the president, that could turn the whole thing. >> i think voters and their vus about the candidates at this point are pretty baked in. it's true democratic voters tend to be early voter, but republican voters tend to be elderly. possibly impacted by a storm that limits them. >> here's the problem for the president. he has to figure out when do i remain at the white house monitoring this whole deal? being president of the united states while also trying to campaign. mitt romney doesn't have to do that. he could still go to ohio, go to wisconsin. go out west. and they can say we'll take down ads in virginia, but the

campaign continues. that's where i think it's going to be dicey for the president. justifying being president and candidate obama. >> the flip of what you said, roland, you don't want to be in nevada saying vote for me while the east coast is suffering. >> it's all about the optics. you don't want people saying how callous of you. here, americans are suffering. they have damaged homes and are having to rebuild their lives and you're running around spending millions of dollar on campaign ads. it's not a good look. >> you made the case this is going to affect both of them. but the people that don't vote in the three or four days it affects their state, two days, whatever it is, some might not vote at all. >> that's a really thorny question. my guess is that those voters are going to turn out if they are intensely committed to either candidate. if not, that's a concern for both campaigns. they need the actually motivate those guys and that would be

true whether or not we had an enormous storm. if they were that marginal, there are other things that could have deterred them. >> the problem is damage. forget just powerlines being down, if you have homes destroyed, having to be rebuilt. cars damaged. trust me, priority standpoint. you're sitting here trying to deal with your life, your children, your family, the elderly. i wont be surprised in those states where you have early voting, you're going to see massive turnout tomorrow to get ahead of this storm. i've been talking to people in north carolina, ohio, even in illinois. lines have been long. they've been running out of paper. i'd say the places they're early voting, they're going to be crashing and burning in advance of this storm. >> shows they're passionate. still to come, a big development in the deadly meningitis outbreak.

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breaking news on that deadly meningitis outbreak that has spread to 18 states and killed 25. documents released by the fda today show the company behind the injections knew it had a problem. cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has the latest. investigators have found unsanitary conditions. describe what they found. >> we showed this report to one former fda scientist. she said it was filthy. this shows they found greenish blackish growth inside dozens of vials of medicine at the center. they took 50 vials and examined them under microscopes. they found micro bacterial contamination and these were part of lots shipped to customers. now, you mentioned what's incredible about this is that the necc knew they had a problem because their own monitoring showed they had mold in bacterial levels that exceeded what were acceptable. >> so, how did this happen and what could be the punishment? this would shock a lot of people

maybe who weren't even affected, but realize this could happen to them. >> there's a criminal investigation going on. when we showed this report to this scientist, she said there are so many different places where things could have gone wrong. the materials used to make the medicine, the tools, had bacterial overgrowth on them. the sterilization material was not clean. thirdly, they weren't air-conditioning the place at night. in the summer, they would turn the air-conditioning off at night and we know what happens when things get warm. that's when things grow. >> thank you very much. what a disturbing development in that story. and does google have too much power? a move that could bring shock waves. and microsoft has something new. and could this be the end of my

and microsoft has something new. and could this be the end of my love affair with my beloved? we're back with tonight's

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we're back with tonight's outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world. tonight, we go to britain, where we're seeing the first video of the pakistani school girl shot by the taliban for promoting girls education. since she arrived for treatment nearly three weeks ago. matthew chance is outside the hospital. i asked him how she's doing. >> malala yousafzai, that 15-year-old activist from pakistan, is now inside this hospital in birmingham in central england surrounded by her family, recovering from that gunshot wound in the head, inflicted by the taliban. latest video, the first video in fact we've seen of the 15-year-old since she was medivaced from pakistan earlier this month to receive emergency treatment here, you see her sitting in the bed, sitting up. she's alert, she's awake. doctors say they expect her to make a full recovery, especially now that her father and mother and two brothers are around her giving her all the support that she needs.

there's been a great deal of concern of course, an outpouring of support around the world for malala. she has really become a symbol of bravery around the world for what she did and for what she intends to do when she goes back, because she has every intention according to her family of going back to pakistan and continuing her campaigning work. >> she truly is a hero. now let's check in with anderson with a look at what's coming up on "ac 360." breaking news tonight on the program. hurricane sandy, already a killer storm, could get worse with a state of emergency declared up and down the east coast. we're waiting for an update on where the storm's going to hit. cnn meteorologist chad myers joins us to explain why he thinks this could be the worst storm he's covered so far. we will try to avoid the hype and just look at the facts. i think it's really important not to hype these things too much. ahead in raw politics, ohio,

ohio, ohio. almost every campaign trip makes a stop there. both candidates likely need the state to win the white house. john king is at the wall breaking down the math. new poll numbers for that state. i'm also joined by james carville, mary matalin. also, the art of the pitch. we go up close breaking down the carefully chosen images and words being used in campaign ads. those stories and tonight's "ridiculist" at the top of the hour. >> looking forward to seeing you in a few minutes. now google. you know it's part of your daily life but is it too powerful? does it know too much about you? is it a monopoly? a lot of its competitors say yes. after a lengthy investigation, the federal trade commission is on the verge of deciding whether or not to sue google. it's a lawsuit many say can't possibly add up. dan simon has the story. >> the top voice recognition software -- >> reporter: on a recent episode of "the good wife" a small software company took a giant search engine to court alleging it was being unfairly buried in search results. >> we dropped overnight, we dropped. now you have to flip through 28 pages of search results to find us. >> reporter: that mirrors some

of the real life allegations against google. antitrust authorities here and in europe are investigating whether google manipulates its search results and puts its products higher or more prominently to the detriment of competitors. >> you've cooked it. you are always third. >> senator, senator, may i simply say that i can assure you we have not cooked anything. >> reporter: google's chairman eric schmidt faced tough questions last year while testifying in front of a senate subcommittee. >> -- seems to suggest it favors google products. is that true? >> as i said, first, i disagree with that characterization. what i said over and over again was we're trying to get to the right answer. >> reporter: according to some competitors, they're serving up answers advantageous to google. appearing at the same hearing, jeremy stopleman, ceo of yelp, which enables users to search and review local businesses, a service also provided by google

itself. >> what we're most concerned about is that google is no longer satisfied with pointing users to the best content anywhere on the web it can be found. instead, it seems they prefer to send users to the most profitable content on the web which is naturally their own. >> reporter: critics might point to the following example. say you're looking for chinese food in washington, d.c. at the top of the page, google lists many restaurants with links to reviews. google reviews. click on any one of them, and you're taken to a page on google plus, the company's social network. you can then read an in-depth review from zagat, a company that happens to be owned by, you guessed it, google. this may not happen all the time. in fact, sometimes competitors will come up first. but the complaint is that google often drives traffic to its many services and products depriving other companies of a level playing field. >> when a company begins to get a huge market share so that they seem to be able to control

competition coming in and out of the field, this is something the government looks at. >> reporter: as google points out, they're providing useful information and for free, and consumers don't seem to be complaining. but there's a ton at stake here for google. from lawsuits to fines to possible changes in the way it operates, all of which could be costly and time-consuming. google says it just wants to create products that delight its users and that competition is just one click away. but google reigns supreme. two-thirds of all web searches in the u.s. are made on the site. the question is whether the company is using its enormous advantage to stifle competition. dan simon, cnn, mountainview, california. the lines have been drawn. the battle has begun. will apple or microsoft reign supreme this holiday? we went for a test.

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auto on on so the ipad mini finally went on sale today at 3:00 a.m. this morning. apple began taking online preorders for the new 7.9 inch tablet. the mini comes in two colors, white and black. the white model sold out in 20

minutes. maybe they just didn't order enough. either way, it's just the beginning. analysts predict that the mini will be one of the hottest items this holiday season. that brings us to tonight's number, 34. you that's the number of microsoft stores that opened in the united states and canada today. one of them was actually here. the outlets are a key part of microsoft's holiday campaign designed to take a big bite out of apple. the stores and kiosks have taken over malls around the country. they offer computer access, technical support, mobile checkout, apparently they have really soft chairs and a white wood kind of look, very fancy. but unlike apple, microsoft does have the stools. okay, they also have a tablet. the microsoft surface is what it's called. it hit the brand new stores auto today, a 10.6 inch tablet using a version of windows 8 called rt, and apps designed for the online store. it starts at $499 which is the same price as the maxi pad that apple makes.

i have one thing i demand in a new device is a real keyboard. the keyboard on this was actually great. according to the staff it's indestructible. they say you can spill coffee on it or drop it in the toilet and it would still work. i haven't tested that yet. but you know, this is interesting. i thought it was important, word, excel, everything seemed to work on there, not an abbreviated version. it was the real deal. are you team apple, team microsoft or something else? samsung, perhaps. if you demand a device that is everything, everything in one, easy to carry around, light, not a big thing that you got to take out when you go through the airport screening, and something you can type on for real, like if you have to write for a living, so if that's you like me, who do you go with? let me know. twitter and facebook. i'm looking for a recommendation. going to buy one. thanks so much for joining us. have a wonderful weekend. of course, if you're on the east coast, good luck getting ready for the big storm. thanks for watching. on that note, here is piers morgan tonight.